By Lisa Esposito; US News & World Report
Monkeypox is the latest viral infection on the public health radar. However, it’s a lot different than COVID-19. Rash, not respiratory illness, is the key monkeypox symptom. Monkeypox is not nearly as widespread or lethal as COVID-19, and it isn’t new. As of early June, only a handful of monkeypox cases have been reported in the U.S. Effective vaccines and treatments already exist for the limited number of people who need them.
Still, health experts are concerned about the monkeypox virus infection. Globally, the sudden appearance of monkeypox in some 30 countries where the virus doesn’t typically circulate poses a ‘moderate’ risk, according to a June 1 statement from the World Health Organization.
In the U.S., where infections could previously be traced to foreign travel in endemic regions, new monkeypox cases are being identified in people without such travel exposure. Now, experts say, is not time for people to be alarmed, but to be aware of monkeypox and its symptoms.
Monkeypox Symptoms
After someone is infected with monkeypox, the incubation period lasts 7 to 14 days on average, but can range from 5 to 21 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The person is not contagious and doesn’t have any symptoms during this time.
For monkeypox in humans, symptoms tend to follow a pattern. “In the classic presentation of monkeypox, people just start off not feeling well,” says Dr. Bobbi Pritt, governor of the College of American Pathologists. “And then they develop a fever. Interestingly, they also have swollen lymph nodes. Then the rash comes out.”
The early onset of symptoms, or prodrome, for monkeypox is usually pretty consistent, says Pritt, who is also a professor of laboratory medicine and pathology and chair of clinical microbiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Although in this current outbreak, there have been some people who just got the rash,” she notes.
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